King42 at 17:46, 5 May 2026

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{{Short description|Indian Islamic scholar and Sufi (1863–1943)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ashraf Ali Thanwi
| birth_name = Ashraf
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1863|08|19}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL3189450A/Maulana_Muhammad_Ashraf_Ali_Thanwi|title=Maulana Muhammad Ashraf Ali Thanwi}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Thana Bhawan]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1943|07|20|1863|09|19}}
| father = Munshi Abdul Haq
| mother =
| spouse =
| children =
| alma_mater = [[Darul Uloom Deoband]]
| module2 = {{Infobox religious biography
|embed = yes
| religion = Islam
|denomination = [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]
|Maddhab = [[Hanafi]]
|creed = [[Maturidi]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Salafī Challenge and Māturīdī Response: Contemporary Disputes over the Legitimacy of Māturīdī kalām|year=2020|publisher=Brill|doi=10.1163/15700607-06023P06|last1=Bruckmayr|first1=Philipp|journal=Die Welt des Islams|volume=60|issue=2–3|pages=293–324|doi-access=free}}</ref>{{not in source|date=April 2026}}
|movement = [[Deobandi]]
|nationality = Indian
|main_interests = [[Sufism]], [[Ethics|moral philosophy]], [[Islamic revival]], [[tafsir]], [[fiqh]], [[hadith]], [[prophetic biography]]
|notable_works = ''[[Majlis-e-Dawatul Haq]]''
|literary_works = {{Unbulleted list|''[[Bayan Ul Quran]]'' (1908)|''[[Bahishti Zewar]]''|''[[Imdad al-Fatawa]]''|''[[Nashr al-Tib fi Zikr al-Nabi al-Habib]]'' (1912)}}
|disciple_of = [[Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]]
|disciples = [[Abdul Hai Arifi]], [[Athar Ali Bengali]], [[Abdul Majid Daryabadi]], [[Aziz al-Hasan Ghouri]], [[Abrarul Haq Haqqi]], [[Shah Ahmad Hasan]], [[Muhammadullah Hafezzi]], [[Khair Muhammad Jalandhari]], [[Masihullah Khan]], [[Maqsudullah]], [[Muhammad Shafi]], [[Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri]], [[Habibullah Qurayshi]], [[Sulaiman Nadvi]], [[Shah Abdul Wahhab (scholar, born 1894)|Shah Abdul Wahhab]],<ref name="ahmad">{{cite book|url=https://www.rokomari.com/book/115714/alhillul-mufham-asshahihu-limuslim |title=মাশায়েখে চাটগাম|volume=2|author1=Ullah, Ahmad|author2=Qadir, Ridwanul|chapter=কুতুবুল আলম হাকীমুন নফস, খলীফায়ে থানভী আল্লামা শাহ আবদুল ওয়াহহাব রহ. (১৮৯৪—১৯৮২) - এর সংক্ষিপ্ত জীবনচরিত |date=February 2018|publisher=Ahmad Prakashan|location=11/1, Islami Tower, [[Bangla Bazar]], [[Dhaka]]-1100|pages=35–54|isbn=978-984-92106-4-1|edition=1}}</ref> [[Wasiullah Fatehpuri]], [[Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi]], [[Zafar Ahmad Usmani]]
|influenced = [[Muhammad Iqbal]],<ref name=":iqbal">{{Cite book |last=Wahid |first=Abdul |url=https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/maqalat-e-iqbal-abdul-wahid-ebooks |title=Maqalat-e-iqbal |publisher=Tufail Art Printers |year=1982 |location=Lahore |pages=180 |language=ur}}</ref> [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]], [[Hakeem Muhammad Akhtar]], [[Badre Alam Merathi]]
}}
| death_place = [[Thana Bhawan]], [[British India]]
}}
'''Ashraf Ali Thanwi''' (often referred as '''Hakimul Ummat'''{{efn|Spiritual physician of the Muslim Ummah.}}<ref name=":OxfordIW">{{Citation |last=Naeem |first=Fuad |title=Thānvī, Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī |date=2009 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-1108 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |language=en |doi= |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}}</ref> and '''Mujaddidul Millat''';{{efn|Reformer of the Nation.}}<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Khatoon |first=Uzma |title=A critical study of select Urdu Tafasir of 20th Century |degree=PhD |publisher=Department of Islamic Studies, [[Aligarh Muslim University]] |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/70434 |language=en |pages=68 |year=2015 |location=India |hdl=10603/70434}}</ref> 19 August 1863 – 20 July 1943) was an Indian [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Muslims|Muslim]] scholar, [[jurist]], thinker, [[Mujaddid|reformist]] and a revivor of classical [[Sufism]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]] during the [[British Raj]].<ref name="OxfordDI">{{Citation |last=Esposito |first=John L. |title=Thanawi, Ashraf Ali |date=2003 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-2372 |work=[[The Oxford Dictionary of Islam]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |language=en |isbn=978-0-19-512558-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Faruque |first=Muhammad U. |date=2021 |title=Eternity Made Temporal: Ashraf ʿAlī Thānavī, a Twentieth-Century Indian Thinker and the Revival of Classical Sufi Thought |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jss/9/2/article-p215_3.xml |journal=Journal of Sufi Studies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=215–246 |doi=10.1163/22105956-bja10009 |s2cid=242261580 |issn=2210-5948|language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was a central figure of Islamic [[Spirituality|spiritual]], [[intellectual]] and religious life in [[South Asia]] and continues to be highly influential today.<ref name=":OxfordIW"/> He wrote over a thousand works including ''[[Bayan al-Quran|Bayan Ul Quran]]'' and ''[[Bahishti Zewar]]''.<ref name=":OxfordIW"/> He was also one of the chief proponents of the [[Pakistan Movement]].<ref name=":OxfordIW"/>

He graduated from [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] in 1883 and moved to [[Kanpur]], then [[Thana Bhawan]] to direct the Khanqah-i-Imdadiyah, where he resided until his death.<ref name=":OxfordIW"/> His training in [[Quran]], [[hadith]], [[fiqh]] studies and [[Sufism]] qualified him to become a leading Sunni authority among the scholars of [[Deobandi|Deoband]].<ref name=":OxfordPST">{{Citation |last=Belhaj |first=Abdessamad |title=Thānvī, Ashraf ʿAlī |date=2014 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199812578.001.0001/acref-9780199812578-e-236 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science and Technology in Islam |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |language=en |doi= |isbn=978-0-19-981257-8}}</ref> His teaching mixes Sunni orthodoxy, Islamic elements of belief and the patriarchal structure of the society.<ref name=":OxfordPST"/> He offered a sketch of a [[Ummah|Muslim community]] that is collective, patriarchal, hierarchical and compassion-based.<ref name=":OxfordPST"/>

== Views and ideology ==
{{Main|Political views of Ashraf Ali Thanwi}}
Thanwi was a strong supporter of the Muslim League.<ref name="Dawn">{{cite news |last=Koreishi |first=Samiullah |date=13 September 2013 |title=What's wrong with Pakistan? |newspaper=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]] |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1042583 |access-date=}}</ref> He maintained correspondence with the leadership of [[All-India Muslim League|All India Muslim League]] (AIML), including [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]. He also sent groups of Muslim scholars to give religious advice and reminders to Jinnah.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Munshi Abdur Rahman |url=https://archive.org/details/toobaa-research-library-TameerEPakistan |title=Tehreek e Pakistan aur Ulama e Rabbani |publisher=Idara-i Islamiya |year=1992 |location=Pakistan |language=ur}}</ref> His disciples [[Zafar Ahmad Usmani]] and [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]] were key players in religious support for the creation of [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Naeem |first=Fuad |title=Thānvī, Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī |date=2009 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-1108 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5 |access-date=2022-11-07|url-access=subscription }}</ref> During the 1940s, many [[Deobandi]] [[Ulama]] supported the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] but Thanwi and some other leading Deobandi scholars including [[Muhammad Shafi]] and [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]] were in favour of the Muslim League.<ref name="SvanbergWesterlund2012">{{cite book|first1=Ingvar|last1=Svanberg|first2=David|last2=Westerlund|title=Islam Outside the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jt8rBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA224|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-11322-2|page=224}}</ref><ref name="Jetly2012">{{cite book|first=Rajshree|last=Jetly|title=Pakistan in Regional and Global Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ojQznTkR09kC&pg=PA156|date=27 April 2012|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-51696-2|pages=156–}}</ref> Thanwi resigned from [[Darul Uloom Deoband]]'s management committee due to its pro-Congress stance.<ref name="HutchinsonSmith2000">{{cite book|first=Francis|last=Robinson|editor-first=John|editor-last=Hutchinson|others=Anthony D. Smith|title=Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN0m_c8p6fgC&pg=PA930|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-20112-4|pages=929–930|chapter=Islam and Muslim separatism.}}</ref> His support and the support of his disciples for [[Pakistan Movement]] were greatly appreciated by AIML.<ref name=":0" />

== Teaching and Education ==
After completing his education, with the permission of his father and teachers, he went to [[Kanpur]] and began teaching at Madrasa Faiz-e-Aam. For fourteen years, he continued to spread knowledge (faiz) there. In [[1315 AH]], he left Kanpur and returned to his ancestral home in [[Thana Bhawan]]. There, he revived the Khanqah of [[Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki]] and established an educational institution named Madrasa Ashrafiya, where he devoted himself until the end of his life to teaching, spiritual purification (tazkiya-e-nufoos), and social reform.<ref name="Suni Online" />

Upon his return, Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki sent him a letter, which stated: "It is better that you have moved to Thana Bhawan. I hope that many people will benefit from you, both outwardly and inwardly. You will restore our madrasa and mosque anew. I pray for you at all times."<ref name="Suni Online" />

== Influence and legacy ==
He produced around 1000 trainees, to whom he permitted for [[Bay'ah]] and those spread their influences of Thanwi. Among them are: [[Sulaiman Nadvi]], [[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]], [[Zafar Ahmad Usmani]], [[Abdul Hai Arifi]], [[Athar Ali Bengali]], [[Shah Abdul Wahhab (scholar, born 1894)|Shah Abdul Wahhab]], [[Abdul Majid Daryabadi]], [[Aziz al-Hasan Ghouri]], [[Abrarul Haq Haqqi]], [[Muhammadullah Hafezzi]], [[Khair Muhammad Jalandhari]], [[Masihullah Khan]], [[Muhammad Shafi]], [[Murtaza Hasan Chandpuri]], [[Habibullah Qurayshi]], [[Muhammad Tayyib Qasmi]].

[[Muhammad Iqbal]] once wrote to a friend of his that on the matter of [[Rumi|Rumi's]] teachings, he held Thanwi as the greatest living authority.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/maqalat-e-iqbal-abdul-wahid-ebooks |title=Maqalat-e-iqbal |publisher=Tufail Art Printers |year=1982 |location=Lahore |pages=180 |language=ur}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Bibliography of Ashraf Ali Thanwi]]
* [[Political views of Ashraf Ali Thanwi]]
* [[List of Deobandis]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|n=no}}
{{Ashraf Ali Thanwi}}
{{Hanafi scholars}}
{{Sufi}}
{{Pakistan Movement}}
{{Maturidi}}
{{Islamic theology}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanwi, Ashraf Ali}}

[[Category:Ashraf Ali Thanwi]]
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1943 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Shamli district]]
[[Category:Scholars from British India]]
[[Category:Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:Deobandis]]
[[Category:Chishtis]]
[[Category:Hanafis]]
[[Category:Maturidis]]
[[Category:Mujaddid]]
[[Category:19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:Darul Uloom Deoband alumni]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:Students of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi]]
[[Category:Indian writers]]
[[Category:Translators of the Quran into Urdu]]
[[Category:Urdu-language writers]]
[[Category:Indian Islamic religious leaders]]
[[Category:Islam in India]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Muslim reformers]]
[[Category:Quranic exegesis scholars]]
[[Category:Indian Sufis]]
[[Category:Hadith scholars]]
[[Category:Sunni Sufis]]
[[Category:Supporters of Ibn Arabi]]
[[Category:Patrons of Darul Uloom Deoband]]
[[Category:Members of the Majlis-e-Shura of Darul Uloom Deoband]]

Ashraf Ali Thanwi - Revision history

King42 at 17:46, 5 May 2026